1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner for a vehicle, in which inside air flows into a foot opening portion and outside air flows into a defroster opening portion when an inside/outside air double-layer flow mode is set during an air outlet mode where air is blown from both of the foot opening portion and the defroster opening portion.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, because a vehicle engine is effectively operated, temperature of cooling water for cooling the engine becomes lower, and heating capacity of a vehicle air conditioner becomes insufficient.
To overcome this problem, in a conventional air conditioner, when an inside/outside air double-layer flow mode is set in a maximum heating mode, inside air (i.e., air inside a passenger compartment) having a high temperature is heated in a hot water type heater core, and is blown toward the foot area of a passenger in the passenger compartment from a foot opening portion. At the same time, outside air (i.e., air outside the passenger compartment) having a low humidity is heated in the heater core and is blown toward a windshield from a defroster opening portion. In the conventional air conditioner, when the double-layer flow mode is set, an air mixing door for adjusting the temperature of air blown into the passenger compartment is used as a partition member for partitioning inside air and outside air between an evaporator and the heater core, so that structure of the air conditioner becomes simple. However, in the conventional air conditioner, a distance between the evaporator and the heater core is increased due to the air mixing door, and a clearance is formed between the evaporator and a top end of the air mixing door during the double-layer flow mode. Thus, the size of the air conditioner is increased, and the partition between inside air and outside air is insufficient during the double-layer flow mode so that defrosting performance of the windshield is decreased due to inside air being introduced into the defroster opening portion.